Enternships Blog

Working for Free?! Posted on Saturday 26 February 2011 at 16:09PM by Richard Crosby

Today's Guest Blog is from Richard Crosby - a student and current 'entern' in startup: Entreper.com. In his post he shares his views on why unpaid internships can be valuable and why he decided to find work in a start-up

I'm currently a student studying business studies, and like many others in their final year of a degree course, have recently started to think about what I want to do after stepping out of the student bubble and into the world of work.

Throughout my course I have always seen the value in finding work outside of university and have tried a variety of different roles to try and build up my skill set and experience. However these types of part-time roles very rarely offer anything in the way of real career development, and even fewer offer the opportunity to be entrepreneurial or creative.

I’ve been studying the theory of business since GCSE’s, right through A-Level and into my degree. Having spent such a time learning the principles in the classroom, I really wanted to get out there and see how these ideas were applied in practise. After investing so much time and money into learning these ideas and gaining new skills in an educational environment I wanted to see how these translated to the real world.

I had two concerns.

1. How am I going to strengthen by employability for when I graduate university
2. How best can I use the time I have left?

Thanks to student finance I had the means to take on unpaid work, and due to my university timetable I had two days off that I could dedicate to another project.

The idea of taking on an internship quickly emerged as an interesting potential option.

But where’s the value in working for free?

When I mentioned this idea to a few of my friends, the response was perhaps understandably negative. “Why would you want to be sat in an office all day for no money?” was a common reply. And it’s by no means a silly question. So where is the value is is working for free? And how do you choose a business to intern with?

In looking for an internship I really wanted to jump in at the deep end, and really wanted to be involved in an exciting start-up project. Looking for a start-up company would mean that as a business they get the benefit of free staff, making them more likely to succeed, but more importantly would provide a dynamic and challenging environment to learn and gain that much need practical experience.

So put simply I was looking for an entrepreneurial start-up firm, which would provide value to me in the form of experience, on the job training and a real idea of how the subject I have studied for so long works in practise.

It was then that I found a position available at an interesting new start-up project – Entreper.com is an angel investment funded venture that aims to create a social networking platform and educational learning resource for aspiring entrepreneurs. Sounded ideal! A company run by entrepreneurs, providing an online service for entrepreneurs in the making. Its a project which I think has great potential.

I’ve now been with the company for almost a month...

...and have had the chance to perform a wide range of task and have been given a lot of opportunities to share my views and opinions as to how the project should progress. Working in a start-up has given me the opportunity to work directly with the founder, and communication is not hindered by traditional bureaucratic structures you find in large firms.

So I can’t recommend finding an internship enough - if you can afford to work for free. There may be no financial value, but the real rewards are the skills you learn, the experience you gain and the real strength it adds to your CV. I would also highly recommend www.entreper.com as a great educational tool and networking platform for any other would-be entrepreneurs out there!

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